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COMO <strong>VIBE</strong> NEWSLETTER FROM THE Principal’s Desk ...continued from pg 1 Trade Training Centre Opening The Como Secondary College and Kent Senior High School Trade Training Centre was officially opened by Senator Mark Bishop on Friday 2 August. The Centre, located on the grounds of Kent Street SHS was built at a cost of $3 million and has been officially named as the Curtin Trade Training Centre. Engineering, welding and fabrication at Curtin are designed to give students the skills they need to participate in the workforce of tomorrow. An example of the educational and vocational opportunities that the Centre can now provide is the Defence Industries School Pathways Program (DISPP) Certificate II Engineering qualification, auspiced through Polytechnic West. Those students selected for the DISPP traineeship underwent an interview process and attend school three days each week, the Curtin TTC one day each week and a suitable workplace on another day. Once they have completed their qualification, students can progress to a Certificate III Technical Engineering. Senator Mark Bishop and Foundation Trade Training Principals Mr Digby Mercer (Como) and Mr Rod Beresford (Kent Street SHS) Literacy and Numeracy Enrichment Classes Additional Mathematics and English classes for students in Years 8 and 9 have been provided to give selected students the opportunity to rapidly develop their literacy and numeracy skills to a level that will allow them to function effectively in adult life. A suitably qualified teacher, Miss Jessica Colleu, has been employed to deliver the specialised and very intense programs. Monitoring Student Progress – The Fundamental Notion of Growth The field of education is littered with many fads and fashions. As Principal I need to work out what works and what is just another educational “flavour of the month”. In guiding the development of Como I have often turned to the work of leading Australian educator, Dr Ken Rowe, who worked for the Australian Council of Educational Research. In a speech to an education conference in 2007, Dr Rowe said the following: No concept is more central to the concerns of both parents and teachers than the concept of growth. As parents and educators we use many different terms to describe physical, cognitive, affective and behavioural growth, including development, learning, progress and improvement. However it is described, the concept of individual growth lies at the heart of teachers’ professional work. It underpins our efforts to assist learners to move from where they are to where they could be: to develop higher levels of literacy competence, broader behavioural and social skills, more advanced problem solving skills, and greater respect for the rights of others. Closely linked to the concept of individual growth is our fundamental belief that all children and adolescents are capable of progressing beyond their current levels of development and attainment – including those with developmental and learning difficulties. As educators we understand that students of the same age are at different stages in their learning and development, and are progressing at different rates. Nonetheless, we share a belief that every student is on a path of learning development. The challenge is to understand each Transition of from Year 7 to 8 2014 and 2015, and Year 6 to 7 Transition 2015 Currently this school in collaboration with Kent Street Senior High School is presenting a series of information sessions to students and parents in Years 5, 6 and 7 in surrounding primary schools. The purpose of these sessions is to provide information to parents as to what will happen next year and in 2015 when both Year 6 and 7 students will make the transition to secondary school. 2 C A R E E N Q U I R Y E M P O W E R M E N T
learner’s current level of progress and to provide opportunities likely to facilitate further growth, and to minimise the influence of factors that may impede such growth – particularly during the early and middle years of schooling. A professional commitment to supporting growth requires a deep understanding of growth itself. What is the nature of progress in an area of learning? What are typical paths and sequences of child development? What does it mean to grow and improve? What can be watched for as indicators of progress, and what needs to be done to maximise progress? Teachers who are focused on supporting and monitoring the long-term growth of individuals have well-developed understandings of how learning in an area typically advances and of common obstacles to progress – tacit understandings grounded in everyday observations and experience that may also be informed by theory and research. At Como we will be working towards developing progress maps to provide a framework for measuring, describing and monitoring growth over time and at individual and group levels. In addition, teacher professional training at Como is emphasising that student performance data can and should be used AS learning, FOR learning, as well as OF learning. However, ACER notes that these key elements of ‘using data to support learning’ are not well understood throughout all levels of the local and international education community. Assessment results provide an assessment OF learning, describing what students have learnt. But assessment data is also important AS learning - both students and teachers learn a great deal from test results. The diagnostic nature of the assessment items provides teachers and parents with valuable information in terms of assessment FOR learning by highlighting interventions suitable for individuals or groups. Hopefully parents will appreciate better descriptions of what their child has achieved and are yet to achieve because it helps them, with the teacher’s guidance, to know how best to help their child at home. Progress maps can be a powerful tool for teachers, as they can monitor the learning progress of each child in the class, as well as the whole class, against the norms for their age and grade levels. They can then identify what they need to do to help those children who are not progressing as well as they should. The ultimate aim is to have every Como student actively monitoring their own progress. The table below is one measure of progress that is now available to the school. It shows that Como in comparison to other WA public schools, Como students not only are achieving at a higher level, but even more pleasingly, are progressing at a greater rate from Year 7 to Year 9. Student councillors providing a sausage sizzle for guests, staff and students. Hockey Turf The Hockey Academy’s new synthetic turf pitch was opened on 28 June. The opening ceremony marked the realisation of a long held dream for the Hockey Academy students, staff and parents. The dream came to fruition as a result of a generous donation of $30,000 from the Royal Perth Golf Club. Their funds together with about $47,000 raised over the years by parents and students of the Hockey Academy, together with school funds enabled the project to proceed. This new facility is timely because the cost of using the State hockey facilities has increased. The new hockey turf will allow the cost of the hockey program to remain at a reasonable level as well as saving travel time. The new turf also provides additional benefits because it can be used for a wide range of other sports. Matt Stevens (School Board President), Brendon Kay (RPGC), Principal Digby Mercer, Ian Armstrong (RPGC), Sharron Hawkins-Zeeb (City of South Perth), Terry Armstrong (RPGC) www.como.wa.edu.au 3
Page 1: COMO VIBE Newsletter ISSUE 5 TERM 3
Page 5 and 6: Term 3 has seen WAMSE testing compl
Page 7 and 8: MATHS Revision In weeks 7 to 10 of
Page 9 and 10: SPORTING Highlights School Sport WA
Page 11 and 12: COMO SECONDARY COLLEGE SCHOOL CHAPL

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